Nickel Research Centre

Nickel News Roundup - Week 28

July 15th, 2025

Market Overview:

Digital assets had one of their best weeks ever, as the market delivered historic returns with Bitcoin surging more than $11,000 past its previous record high.
  • Bitcoin posted one of its most bullish weeks ever, delivering its highest weekly close, multiple new record highs, and massive ETF trading volumes
  • Over the course of just 15 minutes on Thursday, Bitcoin managed to gain nearly $3,000, breaking through numerous new landmarks over the weekend until it eclipsed its previous record high (just under $112,000) by over $11,000
  • Numerous factors were cited for this sudden rise, including increased risk-on appetite, rumours of change within the Federal Reserve, and anticipation of long-awaited legislation as Congress’ “Crypto Week” kicks off
  • Bitcoin grew from a Tuesday low of $108,180 to a new record high of $123,090 on Monday, before pulling back (but remaining well above previous records) to current levels amidst widespread profit-taking
  • At its peak, Bitcoin’s weekly growth amounted to more than 14%
  • Though Ether remains far below its historic highs, it managed to outperform Bitcoin this week, posting double-digit growth as it surged past $3,000
  • Ether grew consistently from $2,551 on Tuesday, peaking at $3,080 on Monday
  • Several major altcoins outperformed on the weekly chart; within just the top 20 projects by market capitalisation Ripple’s XRP gained over 25%, Hyperliquid increased 82%, and Hedera posted 50% growth
  • Overall industry market capitalisation gained over $300bn to reach $3.67tn
  • According to industry monitoring site DeFi Llama, total value locked in DeFi increased by $11bn, to $126.2bn overall

Digital assets had one of their best weeks ever, as Bitcoin broke records at a grand scale, leading multiple analysts to revise their year-end forecasts for the leading digital asset. Industry optimism was boosted by the legislative focus of “Crypto Week” in the US Congress, ETFs had their second-best week of all time, stablecoin development continued apace, as did tokenisation, international adoption, crypto treasury strategies, and much more.

What happened: Bitcoin surges to new record highs

How is this significant?


What happened: ETF News

How is this significant?

  • It was a lucky 13th consecutive week of inflows for digital asset investment products, equating to their second-best week ever
  • According to Coinshares data published on Monday, crypto funds added just over $3.7bn in the trading week ending Friday the 11th
  • This was second only to $3.9bn inflows in early December 2024
  • Bitcoin accounted for around $2.7bn inflows, whilst Ether products posted their fourth-best week of all time at $990m inflows
  • Coinshares’ head of research James Butterfill noted that July 10th (Thursday) saw the third-highest daily inflows ever, and total AUM surpassed $200bn for the first time, reaching over $211bn
  • ETP trading volumes reached $29bn, double the year-to-date average
  • Spot Bitcoin ETFs had one of their best weeks ever, especially in later trading as Bitcoin roared past previous all-time highs on Thursday and Friday
  • There were two nine-figure inflow days—and two ten figure inflow days during Bitcoin’s record run
  • Fidelity’s FBTC, and ARK Invest’s ARKB both logged nine-figure daily flows, whilst Grayscale’s 0.15% fee mini-ETF saw one of its best performances ever, with three days of eight-figure inflows including $82m on Thursday
  • IBIT’s dominance for BlackRock continued with a run that is worth highlighting; adding $449m and $954m on Thursday and Friday respectively, alongside nine-figure inflows on two of the other three trading days
  • Bloomberg chief ETF analyst Eric Balchunas reported that IBIT is now BlackRock’s most profitable ETF, and the 20th-largest ETF in the entire market
  • Additionally, IBIT achieved the third-largest daily volumes of any ETF, trailing only the largest Nasdaq and S&P 500 tracker funds
  • Balchunas predicted that IBIT could hit $100bn AUM this summer, up from $88bn currently
  • Spot Ether ETFs also posted one of their best weeks ever, with three consecutive days of nine-figure inflows; $211m, $383m, and $205m from Wednesday to Friday respectively
  • BlackRock’s ETHA accounted for the vast majority of these amounts, adding $159m, $301m, and $137m
  • Fidelity’s FETH and Grayscale’s 0.15% fee mini-ETF were the next-best performers, with multiple inflows days above $20m
  • These performances were enough to land ETHA a spot on Bloomberg’s weekly ETF leaderboard for the 6th highest inflows across the entire market
  • At the time of writing, early Monday indicated continued inflows despite widespread profit-taking
  • Elsewhere in ETFs, Grayscale lawyers objected to the recent “stay” by the SEC regarding approved conversion of its large-cap crypto fund into an ETF
  • Additionally, Grayscale filed a confidential draft registration for an IPO with the SEC, according to a Monday press release
  • Grayscale doesn’t need to disclose any details until they confirm their IPO intent, but may well feel emboldened to follow through after the runaway success of stablecoin issuer Circle’s recent public float

What happened: Ethereum Foundation makes direct sale of Ether to fund development

How is this significant?

  • The non-profit foundation created to oversee the continued development of the Ethereum blockchain this week made news by selling off some of its Ether reserves for future funding—but doing so in a market neutral way
  • Previously, the Ethereum Foundation has faced some criticism for “dumping” (i.e. selling) Ether directly on the open market, with some regarding the act as a local “top signal” for the second-largest digital asset
  • This time, the Foundation sold 10,000 Ether directly to Ether treasury company SharpLink Gaming in an over-the-counter sale, netting proceeds of $25.7m
  • The chair of SharpLink is none other than Joseph Lubin, a founding developer of Ethereum and leader of software development firm Consensys
  • SharpLink is currently the leading Ether treasury firm in the world, launching with a $425m acquisition budget
  • Lubin told Bloomberg on Wednesday “I’ve had conversations with many of the people in leadership at the Ethereum Foundation. We’ve explained some of the dynamics of what we’re doing and they were certainly curious about this project”
  • Markets responded positively to confirmation of the sale on Friday, sending SharpLink’s shares up over 20%, and over 70% within the last week
  • The Ethereum Foundation also expanded on its planned roadmap for the blockchain’s development on Friday, concentrating on increased privacy via direct integration of zero-knowledge proofs into the base layer of Ethereum

What happened: US legislature gears up for “Crypto Week”

How is this significant?

  • Following last week’s announcement designating the week of July 14th as “Crypto Week” in the US House of Representatives, political focus towards the asset class sharpened considerably
  • Late last week, the Senate Banking Committee held a hearing named “From Wall Street to Web3: Building Tomorrow’s Digital Asset Markets”
  • This hearing with digital asset industry leaders was dedicated to helping the Senate shape its own market structure bill, the CLARITY Act to be debated in the House
  • The debate generally displayed a higher level of understanding than under previous administrations, as more politicians (perhaps thanks to the industry’s campaign dollars) are more informed on blockchain, crypto, and digital assets
  • Committee Chairman Tim Scott commented “Our job is to set clear, light-touch guardrails to protect investors, stop fraud, and allow responsible innovation to flourish”, leading to some pushback from Democrats favouring heavier requirements
  • Politico reported that the House would likely vote on the CLARITY act on Wednesday, potentially sending it to the Senate, whilst the Senate-approved GENIUS stablecoin bill could become the first crypto legislation ratified after a vote on Thursday
  • Some Republican senators have already proposed tweaks to CLARITY with a September 30th deadline, so its passage isn’t viewed quite as likely as the GENIUS bill in the immediate
  • One digital asset advocacy group stated “We can no longer afford the hodgepodge of 100-year-old regulations to keep consumers protected and govern the foundational technology of the present. It’s time for clear and responsible rules of the road for crypto”
  • Meanwhile, some prominent Democrats such as Maxine Waters voiced opposition to the legislative drive, proposing a “Anti Crypto Corruption Week” instead due to perceived conflicts of interest from Donald Trump’s family connections to the asset class
  • One such example may be Trump Media’s third filing for a crypto ETF this week, focused on “blue chips” within the industry, and Donald Trump Jr’s recent stake in a firm pivoting towards a crypto treasury strategy
  • House speaker Mike Johnson stated “House Republicans are taking decisive steps to deliver the full scope of President Trump's digital assets and crypto asset agenda. I look forward to President Trump signing them into law”
  • Political publication The Hill identified Crypto Week as a means to realise Trump’s promise of making the US the “crypto capital of the world”, in an op-ed by Financial Services Committee chair French Hill; “This is just the beginning of the journey for digital assets and their role in unlocking American economic growth, global competitiveness and financial opportunity for all”
  • Elsewhere in US regulatory news, the Senate confirmed Jonathan Gould as new head of the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, the latest in “a slate of regulators under Trump who are proponents of digital assets”
  • The OCC immediately issued a statement (alongside the Federal Reserve and FDIC) clarifying how existing rules apply to banks custodying crypto for customers
  • The press release said "A banking organisation that is contemplating providing safekeeping for crypto-assets should consider the evolving nature of the crypto-asset market… and implement a risk governance framework that appropriately adapts to relevant risks”
  • The EU’s market watchdog (ESMA) criticised Maltese authorities for oversight efforts in granting licences to several exchanges allowing them to operate within the single economic area
  • ESMA said that whilst some “material issues” remained, overall Malta’s efforts “largely meet expectations with respect to the practical implementation”
  • The Czech National Bank increased its exposure to the crypto industry by purchasing $18m of Coinbase shares in the last quarter, following a January proposal to assess diversifying reserves into digital assets
  • Greek authorities made the country’s first crypto seizure, related to hackers behind the $1.5bn Bybit exchange hack in February

What happened: Stablecoin news

How is this significant?

  • Expectations around the predicted passage of the GENIUS Act in the US led to a continued focus on stablecoin development and adoption this week
  • In a Times newspaper interview, Bank of England governor Andrew Bailey warned against stablecoins, a week after he claimed they could cause systemic fragility or undermine trust in currency
  • He said the US was leaning towards stablecoins whilst the ECB is advocating for a CBDC (central bank digital currency), but he believed tokenised deposits (as recently announced by JP Morgan) were the best way forward
  • Bailey told The Times that “I would much rather [banks] go down the tokenised deposit streets and say, how do we digitise our money, particularly in payments”
  • The Bank for International Settlements (BIS) also spoke out against the assets in a new bulletin
  • BIS wrote that “Stablecoins’ rising market capitalisation and increasing interconnections with the traditional financial system have reached a stage where potential spillovers to that system can no longer be ruled out”
  • However, BIS does have vested interests in this matter, instead promoting CBDCs such as its own Project Agora
  • USDC issuer Circle has set up a revenue-sharing agreement with crypto exchange Bybit
  • Those with knowledge of the arrangement believe Circle will share a portion of the yield for backing assets (such as treasuries) of USDC tokens held on the exchange, leading to greater promotion by Bybit
  • A source told industry publication Coindesk “You should assume any exchange that has some material amount of USDC has an agreement with Circle”
  • In other USDC news, Jack Ma’s Ant Group will integrate USDC onto its proprietary blockchain, pending regulatory approval
  • Monad Foundation announced the acquisition of stablecoin infrastructure platform Portal Labs for the development of its own stablecoin initiatives
  • Monad co-founder Keone Hon stated “Payments are a killer use case for blockchains and present an exciting unlock for widespread crypto adoption”
  • Mastercard said that despite great promise, stablecoins still have a long way to go before becoming a mainstream payment solution
  • Recent reports stated that Visa and Mastercard are both rolling out stablecoin payment integrations, but chief product officer Jorn Lambert stated they require “attributes like a seamless and predictable user experience, reach and wide distribution to consumers”
  • He did however point out the potential benefits of the technology, highlighting “high speed, 24/7 availability, low costs, programmability, immutability”
  • Ripple appointed BNY Mellon as the primary custodian of backing assets for its RLUSD stablecoin, which has grown 30% over the last month to surpass a total market capitalisation of $500m

What happened: Chinese brokerages benefit from crypto trading licence expectations

How is this significant?

  • According to Bloomberg Intelligence, numerous Chinese brokerages are benefitting from the “One Country Two Systems” economic policy, as crypto licences for Hong Kong units provide a perceived opportunity for mainlanders
  • A gauge shows that brokerage shares listed in Hong Kong increased 15%, with individual firms that gained crypto trading licences showcasing up to 75% growth
  • This compares to just 3.4% increases for mainland-based brokerages, where digital asset trading remains officially outlawed
  • Crypto licences are currently viewed as a hot commodity for Hong Kong subsidiaries of mainland brokers—on the assumption that they potentially provide a gateway for mainland investors to gain exposure to the asset class
  • Yan Yun Family Office VP Ravi Wong told Bloomberg “Investors are betting on more brokerages to get licence upgrade[s] to offer virtual asset trading services… [if granted] it will boost their earnings”
  • Meanwhile, at a seminar in Shanghai, mainland regulators indicated they could be open to some form of blockchain application
  • The asset regulator vowed to “improve research on digital currency and explore application of blockchain technology in cross-border trade, supply chain finance and asset digitalisation”

What happened: Lloyds and Aberdeen team with crypto bourse for FX trading

How is this significant?

  • British banking giant Lloyds and fund manager Aberdeen announced a partnership with crypto exchange Archax, enabling forex contracts to be collateralised with digital assets
  • In a press release, Archax hailed the “UK-first use of digital assets” as “tokenised units of Aberdeen Investment’s money market fund (tMMF) and tokenised UK gilts were used as collateral for foreign exchange (FX) trades between Aberdeen and Lloyds”
  • The tokens were created and transferred by Archax on the Hedera Hashgraph public permissioned blockchain
  • Emily Smart, Chief Product Officer at Aberdeen Investments stated “we are delighted to demonstrate real-world application of on chain collateral movements using tokenised assets… [demonstrating] the ability of digital assets to streamline processes and increase efficiency”
  • Peter Left, head of digital finance at Lloyds, said “Digital assets can be used in regulated financial markets under existing legal frameworks here in the UK”, reducing friction and increasing collateral efficiency
  • Finance industry publication TheTradeNews noted “Benefits of the use of regulated digital assets as collateral includes the ability for these to be programmed to automatically follow the rules of trading agreements… set to be particularly useful in times of market volatility, with an increased adoption of tokenised funds as collateral able to reduce systemic risk by enabling digital transfers instead of forced asset sales”

What happened: Tether increases gold holdings to $8bn

How is this significant?

  • Stablecoin giant Tether continues its recent revenue and reserve diversification drive, now including 80 tons of gold
  • The $8bn value is held in a Swiss vault, according to CEO Paolo Ardoino; “We have our own vault. I believe it’s the most secure vault in the world”
  • This puts Tether’s gold reserves approximately on a par with Swiss banking giant UBS, despite the latter tracing its roots all the way back to 1862
  • Alongside its flagship dollar-pegged USDT stablecoin, Tether does also issue the gold-backed XAUT token, where each coin is backed by an ounce of gold
  • However, XAUT in circulation “only” represents 7.7 tons of gold, indicating that over 90% of Tether’s gold holdings are currently functioning as a reserve asset, rather than a backing asset
  • Ardoino explained the importance of non-fiat reserves, stating “Gold, I think should be logically a safer asset than any national currency. So eventually I think that if people start to get concerned about the potential increase of the debt of United States, they might look at alternatives”

What happened: German state lender issues €100m bond on blockchain

How is this significant?

  • State-owned German development bank NRW.BANK undertook one of the largest public sector tokenisations ever this week, issuing a €100m blockchain-based bond
  • As the bond was deemed a “crypto security”, it used crypto registrar Cashlink, instead of the central securities depositories used for “regular” bonds
  • According to a report from the bank, the bond was issued on the Polygon blockchain, an Ethereum layer-2 scaling solution, with DekaBank, Deutsche Bank, and DZ BANK serving as bookrunners
  • Cashlink CEO Michael Duttlinger commented that “This is more than a technical milestone. It’s a signal that public financial institutions are ready to move beyond blockchain pilots and start integrating these systems at scale”
  • This made NRW.BANK the second state-owned lender to issue a bond of that magnitude, following in the footsteps of KfW a year ago (and also on the Polygon blockchain)

What happened: Crypto Treasury news

How is this significant?

  • As the mainstream recognition of digital assets continues to gather steam, so does its inclusion in corporate treasuries and reserves, with this week seeing further adoption in the field
  • The leading Bitcoin treasury firm, Strategy (formerly MicroStrategy), acquired 4,225 BTC for $472.5m at approximately $111,827 per Bitcoin, increasing its total holdings to 601,550 Bitcoin, acquired at an average price of $71,268
  • These buys were partly funded through ATM sales of “Class A common stock, perpetual Strike preferred stock, perpetual Strife preferred stock, and perpetual Stride preferred stock” worth $330m
  • Some observers noted with amusement that Vanguard—the asset management giant that openly rejected creating or listing any Bitcoin ETFs—is now the largest shareholder of Strategy, thanks to its many index tracker funds
  • Vanguard currently owns about 8% of Strategy’s common stock, giving them major exposure to Bitcoin by proxy after dismissing crypto as an “immature asset class”
  • Bloomberg chief ETF analyst Eric Balchunas commented "Vanguard chose this life. When you have an index fund, you have to own all the stocks, for better or worse, and that includes stocks that you may not like or approve of personally”
  • Japan’s leading light in the field, Metaplanet, purchased 797 BTC over the last week for $93.6 million at roughly $117,451 per Bitcoin, bringing reserves to 16,352 Bitcoin acquired for $1.64 billion at a unit price of $100,191
  • NYSE-listed Bitmine Immersion meanwhile increased Ether holdings to $500m, following a $250m PIPE raise
  • This makes it the second-largest Ether treasury firm after SharpLink (featured earlier in this newsletter)
  • SharpLink increased its Ether holdings further on Monday, purchasing $73m from the open market rather than more OTC trades with the Ether Foundation
  • Since announcing its shift to an Ether strategy, Bitmine’s shares surged 400%
  • Nasdaq-listed Bit Digital also revealed an Ether reserve strategy, raising around $67m through a direct offering
  • According to data from Keyrock trading, Bitcoin treasury firms now hold around half as much Bitcoin as the spot ETF complex
  • Nasdaq-listed Sonnet Biotechnologies will merge with Rorschach LLC to firm Hyperliquid Strategies Inc., a company dedicated to pursuing a treasury strategy of the Hyperliquid (HYPE) blockchain
  • This new entity will be valued at $888m, with $305m cash and the rest in HYPE tokens
  • Following the news, Sonnet shares increased over 300%
  • On a nation-state level, local Kazakh media suggested that Kazakhstan is considering crypto beyond the confiscated crypto it already claimed it will custody
  • According to the reports, these purchases could be funded by existing gold or forex reserves
  • National bank head Timur Suleimenov stated “We have an alternative portfolio of gold and foreign exchange reserves and an alternative portfolio of the National Fund. There we use aggressive strategies to get higher investment income”
  • He added that there was increasing international allocation towards crypto exposure; “We looked at the experience of the Norwegian fund, the American experience, the experience of the Middle East funds. They have certain investments either in crypto assets directly or in ETFs and shares of companies that are closely related to crypto assets”

This weekly financial roundup is for informational purposes only and is not financial, investment, or legal advice. Information is based on public sources as of publication and may change. Consult a professional before acting.
2025-07-15 09:28 News Roundups